(CNS): As the tourism sector faces the start of the slow season, so far there has been no let-up in the continued growth in visitor numbers, both at the airport and the cruise terminals. The arrival of 39,057 visitors last month was just a 0.33% increase on April last year but despite the very small increase, it was the thirteenth month in a row which recorded on increase on the previous year’s corresponding statistics. April also saw a significant increase of more than 21% in cruise passenger numbers, with 151,716 passengers packing into George Town.

Speaking about the modest growth in April, Tourism Minister Moses Kirkconnell said 2018 was up by 15% so far compared to the first four months of last year. “But, outstanding performance for the Cayman Islands does not mean that we can sit back or minimise our efforts, so I am committed to supporting our local stakeholders to position the Cayman Islands as the destination of choice,” he said. “I am optimistic that we will see sustained growth in the months to come.”

The growth continued to be fuelled by visitors from the US, which increased 2.33% overall. But numbers were up from Canada and Latin America.

Officials expect the growth to continue throughout 2018 bolstered by three airlines that have announced new routes to Grand Cayman. JetBlue will begin daily nonstop service from Fort Lauderdale starting 25 October, in addition to its flights from New York and a seasonal service from Boston.

Southwest Airlines has expanded its service to include direct flights from Houston with weekly scheduled flights on Saturdays starting 9 June. American Airlines will add seasonal flights from Chicago starting this winter. The weekly Saturday flights will begin on 22 December until April next year.

The rest of the storm damaged Caribbean is starting to come back on stream. Hence the much lower growth last month. It will largely be back to normal by next season, assuming no major storm issues this summer (which I hope is the case). The extra airlift will help increase numbers somewhat, but more room inventory is needed for sustained growth, otherwise high prices will drive visitors elsewhere.

No, normal is 2016-2017 season, perfectly sound figures, just not the excess in visitors who paid record prices due to shortage of other locations this past season. Just stating reality (basic tourism economics), not saying we are underachieving, because we are not in hospitality. The slowdown in growth discussed in the article is an indicator of returning to “normal”, i.e. early 2017 figures. At normal, Cayman will continue to do well. Why bring in the plane comment? Really?